The latest accusation in the ongoing rift between the PPP and PML-N came from Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on Sunday when he alleged that the Punjab government was taking his party’s cover to “target” the federal government.
Memon’s PPP and the PML-N, who are coalition partners in the Centre, have been engaged in a war of words for the past many days over issues from flood compensation to water rights in the context of the Cholistan canals project. The PPP, which is in power in Sindh, has been particularly incensed by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s remarks, whose party is also leading the federal government.
As the row continues between the two sides, Memon alleged while addressing a press conference in Karachi that on the face of it, the Punjab government was “indirectly targeting” the PPP, but their “actual target is the federal government”.
“They are taking our cover to settle their own issues with the prime minister or the federal government. Or they are trying to create an environment to [compel] us not to support the federal government, which would create problems for the federal government,” he claimed.
Clarifying that the PPP was supporting the federal government on specific issues and to keep the country’s “political system running”, he asserted that the circumstances that the Punjab government tried to create spoke of their intentions of creating a rift between the allies in the Centre.
“But we will not let this conspiracy of the Punjab government against the federal government succeed,” Memon asserted.
“I do not know why they have these jealousy factors,” he quipped, highlighting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the army chief’s recent “successful” visits to Saudi Arabia and the United States. “A person thinks that ‘maybe this should have come in my share, why is it going to the prime minister’.”
The PPP leader further said that while the chief ministers of Sindh and Balochistan usually receive the premier whenever he visits the provinces, “his own Punjab administration neither receives him nor gives him any protocol”.
“If you have any issues with the prime minister, please keep them among yourselves. Do not bring the PPP into it,” Memon said.
Regardless, the Sindh minister said, the focus at the moment should be on providing relief to the flood-hit people. “Even if you had blacked out the news from some places, but if you look on the ground […] especially in southern Punjab, the condition of the people is very bad.”
Memon went on to allege that the Punjab government “staged another drama to divert from this entire matter, which is extremely unfortunate, damaging, and I think it was handled in a very childish manner”.
He recalled that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had asked the Centre to issue an appeal for international assistance and that his party had demanded that immediate flood relief be provided through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
He pointed out that the appeal was towards the federal government but it was the Punjab government that was reacting negatively to them, while the Centre “even gave reassurances”.
More to follow
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